Edelmira Armanda Faustina de Zayas González

Cuban soprano, one of the most extraordinary voices in the history of Cuban lyric art.

She was born in Santiago de Cuba. At three years of age, Edelmira moved to reside, along with her family members, in Holguín, where she began her musical studies with her father: the mambí commander Armando de Zayas, founder of the Cultural Artistic Society of that urban center.

When her family moved to Havana in 1914, she received voice lessons from Spanish bass Pablo Meroles, who made her debut as an amateur on May 20, 1915 at the Liceo Artístico y Literario de Guanabacoa, an occasion in which she performed the soprano romance from the Spanish zarzuela La trapera (L.: Mariano de Larra / M.: José Fernández Caballero).

Subsequently, she entered the Italian Philharmonic Singing Academy, directed by Tina Farelli and Arturo Bovi, where she graduated in 1917.

On May 27, 1917, guided by both professors, she made her first professional presentation singing the aria "Ballatella" from I pagliacci in the Espadero hall of the National Conservatory of Music.

Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli chose De Zayas to star in Aída at the National Theater on December 3, 1923.

Between 1926 and 1932 on various Havana stages she played the main roles in Norma, La bohème, Cavalleria rusticana, La traviata, and I pagliacci. Worth noting is her interpretation of the title role in the first act of the Cuban opera Zilia (L.: Temístocle Solera / M.: Gaspar Villate Montes), on December 4, 1928, in the second artistic program organized by the Pro-Arte Musical Society on the occasion of the inauguration, two days earlier, of the Auditórium theater.

In 1931 she performed at the inaugural concert of the Coral Society of Havana, of which she would become a soloist and assistant director. She performed on several occasions with the Havana Symphony Orchestra. She sang the Anthem of the National Feminist Alliance at the Intellectual Festival of Woman, which the Circle of Fine Arts convened in 1935. She participated alongside Marta Pérez (mezzo-soprano), Jorge de Cubas (tenor), and Gustavo Berg (bass) in the Cuban premiere of the Missa solemnis a Santa Cecilia by Charles Gounod, held at the Auditórium on January 18, 1943, with the accompaniment of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Havana, under the baton of Paul Csonka.

She participated in events of Cuban Song Day, after it was officially established in 1945 to pay homage to the birthday of Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes. She was part of the Cuban delegation that in 1950 participated in Miami, Florida, in the Inter-American Conference, sponsored by the National Federation of Music Clubes (NFMC), and on that occasion gave a recital at the White Temple. She also distinguished herself as a sacred music singer, which, according to her, "…was her way of praying"…

For the Sonovox firm she recorded on records Elegie by Massenet, accompanied on piano by Juan Palma, and, with the Evelio Cartaya Orchestra, left phonographic recordings of Canto negro (Lecuona-Sánchez Galarraga), Ave María (Gounod), and El rosario (Ethelbert Nevin). Although she had filled an entire musical era in Havana, she left the stage to dedicate many years to teaching and contributed to the training of numerous vocalists.

An admirer and close friend of De Zayas since this soprano's learning stage at the Italian Philharmonic Singing Academy, Ernesto Lecuona dedicated to her the song Ave lira, premiered at the Nacional on September 23, 1933 in a concert of Cuban music by the maestro. Before the public's ovations, he had to repeat it three times.

Regarding the world-famous pianist and composer, in 1934 Edelmira declared to the Havana weekly Carteles: "Besides the music of Puccini, there is another that delights me and that I enjoy singing. I am referring to that of our Lecuona. His melodies are so spontaneous, so exquisite, and I feel them so vividly, that they seem to me faithfully suited to my temperament."

With respect to Edelmira de Zayas's interpretive talent, Mexican singer José Mojica expressed: "Her voice is like the tinkling of Baccarat crystal."

Spanish musicologist Rafael Pastor opined: "The eminent Cuban artist brings together everything: splendid voice, beauty, art, phrasing in the manner of Barrientos and Bori, and a marvelous intuition to feel herself within the character she represents." And in turn Joaquín Turina stated: "…her voice is as clean and clear as the water of the Guadalquivir. One rarely hears a singer pronounce so clearly. She adjusts to the exact measure with perfect intonation."

Source: Habana Radio.cu